Brine shrimp harvesting apparatus

ABSTRACT

Apparatus comprising a raft for floating along the surface of the body of water, the raft including a net for skimming the surface of the body of water and communicating with a sluice provided at the front end portion of the raft. A cylindrical screen extends partially into the sluice and communicates with the net for entrapping brine shrimp which are skimmed off the surface of the water by the net. The cylindrical screen includes an internal helical member which is coextensive therewith, the screen and helical member both being simultaneously rotated for helically conveying entrapped brine shrimp from the sluice to appropriate collection buckets provided on the top-side of the raft.

London Get. 30, 1973 BRINE SHRIMP HARVESTING APPARATUS [75] Inventor: S.Paul London, Palo Alto, Calif.

[73] Assignee: Metairame Corporation, Maywood,

22 Filed: 0a. 15, 1971 21 Appl. No.: 189,522

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,777,783 10/1930 Burns eta1... 43/6.5 1,138,541 5/1915 Conekin 43/8 FOREIGN PATENTS ORAPPLICATIONS Norway 43/6.5-

1,204,629 9/1970 Great Britain 302/14 Primary Examiner-Warner H. CampAttorney-Abraham Friedman et al.

[57] ABSTRACT Apparatus comprising a raft for floating along the surfaceof the body of water, the raft including a net for skimming the surfaceof the body of water and communicating with a sluice provided at thefront end portion of the raft. A cylindrical screen extends partiallyinto the sluice and communicates with the net for entrapping brineshrimp which are skimmed off the surface of the water by the net. Thecylindrical screen includes an internal helical member which iscoextensive therewith, the screen and helical member both beingsimultaneously rotated for helically conveying entrapped brine shrimpfrom the sluice to appropriate collection buckets provided on thetop-side of the raft.

9 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENIEDum 30 ms V 13.768. 1 9'3 SHEET 1 BF3 8. PAUL LONDON INVENTOR BY QJJW 1 M ATTOR N EYS PAIENTEflncIaoms I3.768.193

sum 20F 3 v 5 PAUL LONDON INVENTOR BY WNV ATTORNEYS PATENTEU 08! 30 I975SHEET 3 BF 3 5. PAUL LONDON W W W ATTORNEY;

1 BRINE SHRIMP HARVESTING APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Thepresent invention relates generally to the harvesting of smallcrustacean of the species Artemia commonly known as brine shrimp,hereafter referred to as shrimp, and more particularly to apparatus forcontinuously and automatically transferring shrimp from the surface of ashallow body of water into appropriate collection means.

As those skilled in the art readily understand, the conventionalprocedure for harvesting brine shrimp is to manually insert heavy andcumbersome nets into a body of water, along the surface thereof, from araft or the like, so as to entrap shrimp concentrated generally alongthe surface of the body of water. Thereafter, the nets entrapped withthe shrimp are manually lifted onto the raft and are emptied intoappropriate buckets for temporary storage.

Obviously, the conventional procedure for harvesting shrimp is a tediousand cumbersome proposition since the nets are rather heavy and must belifted from the confines of the water onto the raft and must be emptiedmanually into appropriate buckets. Shrimp are often lost as a result ofthe hiatus between changing the nets,

since the nets require periodic emptying and, more-.

over, shrimp often spills from the nets onto the raft since it is ratherdifficult to properly empty the nets into appropriate buckets therefor.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the presentinvention to provide apparatus for automatically and continuouslytransferring shrimp from a shrimp laden body of water into appropriatecollection buckets.

It is another object of the present invention to obviate the necessityfor emptying nets entrapped with shrimp into appropriate collectionbuckets.

It is still a further object of the present invention to obviate thenecessity for intermittently changing nets after the netshave been fullyentrapped with shrimp and thereby enhance the rate of harvesting shrimpwithout regard to the. physical strength of shrimp; harvestingpersormels o To this end, the present invention relates generally toapparatus for harvesting shrimp, the apparatus comprising a cylindricalconveyer screen in which is fixed a helical member, the screen andhelical member being simultaneously rotatably driven and supported on araft, the latter including a net for continuously skimming the surfaceof a shrimp laden body of water so as to transfer shrimp to the entranceof the cylindrical screen which is partially submerged and communicateswith the net, thereby, permitting the helical member to elevate andexpel shrimp continuously into appropriate collection buckets providedon the top-side of the raft.

BRIEF DESCRIPTlON or THE DRAWINGS With the above and additional objectsand advantages in view as will hereinafter appear, this inventioncomprises the devices, combinations and arrangements of partshereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings of apreferred embodiment in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a schematic representation ofthe apparatus for harvesting shrimp pursuant to the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a top side plan view of the apparatus illustrated inFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates a front elevational view, enlarged and partially incross-section, of the manner by which the conveyer screen is rotatablysupported upon a raft, only a fragment of the raft being illustrated;

FIG. 4 illustrates a view similar to that of FIG. 2, however, a portionof the cylindrical screen is removed for exposing the helical conveyermember which is fixed internally to the screen; and

FIG. 5 illustrates an end view of the screen from a position on the raftwhich rotatably supports the screen.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring now to the drawings, andmore particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2 thereof, the present inventionrelates generally to apparatus for harvesting brine shrimp, theapparatus generally denoted by the reference character 10. The apparatus10 includes a floatation raft 12 which is provided at the front endportion thereof with a sluice 14 or recess which is open at the frontend of the raft.

Connected to the front end of the raft, such as by conventional means,is a water skimming net 16 having a base portion 18 and a pair ofopposite upstanding side walls 20. An upstanding narrow rear wall 22extends upwardly from the base portion 18 and is interposed in thesluice 14 of the raft 12. Moreover, the net 16 includes a wide openfront'portion 24 which is of greater extent than that of the narrow rearwall 22 such that the side walls 20 graudually taper inwardly toward oneanother from the wide open front portion 24 for skimming and entrappingshrimp to a narrow extent communicating with ,the sluice 14 forconcentrating entrapped shrimp therein.

The raft 12 also includes a pair of pontoon-like floats 26 which arefixedly interconnected to the side walls 20 respectively such as bymeans of elongate lateral frame segments 28 respectively, thepontoon-like floats 26 acting to support and stablize the net 16 alongthe raft l2 and yet maintain the wide-open front portion ,24

partially submerged along the surface of a body of water to permitskimming the surface and entrapping shrimp. therein. t r Rotatablysupported upon the raft 12, such. as by means as will be furtherclarified below, is a cylindrical conveyer screen 30 which has an axisof rotation inclined relative to the top side of the raft 12 such thatthe-lower end portion 32 of the screen 30 projects into the sluice 14and through an appropriate opening provided in the rear narrow wall 22of the net 16 so as to also be partially submerged and communicate withthe shrimp entrapped by the net 16. Moreover, the screeen 30 includes anupper end portion which is elevated relative to the top side of the raftl2'and is accessible, in a manner as will be clarified below, for beingrotatably driven about the longitudinal axis of the screen 30.

Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 4, the raft 12 includes an upper platform36 and a lower platform 38 extending in generally stepped relation withone another adjacent the sluice 14. An upper bracket 40 is fixedlyconnected to the upper platform 36, whereas a lower bracket 42 isfixedly connected to the lower platform 38. Fixedly connected in coaxialrelation to the upper end portion 34 of the screen 30 and lower endportion 32 of the screen 30 are upper and lower shaft members 44 and 46respectively, the latter shaft members being rotatably journaled in thebrackets 40 and 42 respectively and fixed to the screen 30 such as bymeans of the spokes or ribs 48, in a manner as illustrated in FIG. 5.

Fixedly connected to the uppermost end portion of the shaft 44 is acrank 50 for permitting manual rotation of the shaft 44 and thereby thescreen 30. Alternatively, the uppermost end portion of the shaft 44 maybe driven such as by means of a motor, the latter which is preferableand generally driven at a rate of 45 R.P.M. such as by means of aone-quarter horsepower motor.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the internal cylindrical wall of the conveyorscreen 30 is fixedly provided with a-helical conveyer member 52, thehelical conveyer member 52 and the screen 30 being generally coextensivewith one another. In this respect, the helical conveyer member 52initiates at the lower end portion 32 at a point 54 for bitting" intothe shrimp concentrated and entrapped in the sluice 14, as the helicalconveyer member 52 and screen 30 are simultaneously or commonly drivenfrom the top side of the raft 12. Clearly, as those skilled in the artwill readily understand, the common rotation of both the screen 30 andthe helical conveyer member 52 causes an elevation and transfering ofthe entrapped shrimp from the sluice 14 to a position on the top side ofthe raft 12 for continuous expulsion into appropriate collection buckets56 positioned directly below the upper end portion 34 of the screen 30.

It has been determined that it is most preferable to provide the helicalconveyer member 52 with a uniform lateral extent, the extent generallydenoted by the reference character d in FIG. 4 and being less than theradius of the cylindrical conveyer 30 and most preferably one-quarter ofthe diameter D illustrated in FIG. 3. The provision of the helicalconveyer member 52 with a lateral extent which is substantially theequivalent of onequarter the diameter D illustrated in FIG. 3 is toprovide a concentric arrangement of openings along the rotational axisof the screen 30 so as to permit exces sive shrimp to spill backwardlyinto the sluice 14 and thereby prevent either overloading of the motordrive for the screen 30 or alternatively obviate the requirement forgreat strength to manually rotate the screen 30 for elevating the shrimpentrapped therein.

Moreover, it has determined determind that it is most preferable toprovide the screen 30 with a portion of coarse mesh, in the direction ofarrow A in FIG. 3, and a portion of fine mesh, in the direction of arrowB in FIG. 3. The provision of these two portions of fine and coarse meshpermits excessive fluid entrenched in the ferred from the water surfaceto appropriate buckets on the raft.

The present invention is utilized generally by a shrimp harvester who,by means of an appropriate motor drive, directs the raft along thesurface of a shrimp-laden body of water such that the net 16 skims thesurface of the body of the water and entraps shrimp in the concentratedarea or sluice 14 of the raft 12. The concentrated shrimp are thenentrapped at the lower end portion 32 of the screen 30, the screen 30being either manually or automatically driven rotatably so as to causethe helical conveyer member 52 to bite into the concentrated shrimp andtransfer the latter helically along the inner wall of the screen 30 tothe upper end portion 34 and expel the shrimp into appropriate buckets56 positioned below the upper end portion 34 of the screen 30. Clearly,this is an extremely simple shrimp initially to readily escape from theconfines of the screen 30, whereas as the shrimp is progressivelyelevated by the helical conveyer member 52 out of the confines of, orimmediately above, the surface level of the water, only a minimalquantity of water need escape from the confines of the screen 30 and,therefore, a fine mesh is used for exhausting the remaining water andinsures the maintaining of the shrimp in the screen 30.

It has also been determined that more than one helical conveyer member52 may be fixedly associated with the inner wall of the conveyer screen30 for increasing the number of bites per revolution associated with thescreen 30 and thereby increase the quantity of shrimp that can besimultaneously conveyed or transoperation which may be effectedcontinuously and quickly without any regard to the physical strength ofthe harvester, and without the requirement for changing nets which oftenresults in a loss of shrimp.

Numerous alterations of the structure herein disclosed will suggestthemselves to those skilled in the art. However, it is to be understoodthat the present disclosure relates to a preferred embodiment of theinvention which is for purposes of illustration only and is not to beconstrued as a limitation of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for removing brine shrimp from a fluid, said apparatuscomprising first means extending partially in said fluid for entrappingbrine shrimp, second means extending partially in said fluid anddrivingly supported for transferring entrapped brine shrimp along saidfirst means and out of said fluid, third means drivingly associated withsaid second means for driving said second means and permitting expellingsaid brine shrimp from said first means, said second means including ahelical member extending internally of said first means and terminatingin opposite end portions of said first means, one of said end portionsbeing submerged in said fluid, the other of said end portions extendingfree from said fluid for expulsion of brine shrimp, said helical memberbeing fixedly connected to said first means internally of said firstmeans. I

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first means isfluid-pervious for permitting fluid to escape therefrom.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein said first means includes agenerally screened cylindrical wall.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein the screened cylindricalwall includes a first portion submerged in said fluid and a secondportion free from said fluid, said second portion having openings ofsmaller size than said first portion.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, including floatation means whichsupports said first means for permitting displacement of said firstmeans along the surface of said fluid into entrapping relation with saidbrine shrimp.

6. Apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein said floatation meansincludes a sluice through which said first means projects into partiallysubmerged relation in said fluid.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein said floatation meansincludes a netted member at least partially submerged for skimming saidfluid proximate the 3 ,768 1 93 5 6 surface of the latter andcommunicating with both said means.

sluice and said first means. 9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1,including means 8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said firstfor simultaneously rotating said first and second means means isgenerally cylindrical and said helical member along a common axis.

has a lesser lateral extent than the radius of said first 5

1. Apparatus for removing brine shrimp from a fluid, said apparatuscomprising first means extending partially in said fluid for entrappingbrine shrimp, second means extending partially in said fluid anddrivingly supported for transferring entrapped brine shrimp along saidfirst means and out of said fluid, third means drivingly associated withsaid second means for driving said second means and permitting expellingsaid brine shrimp from said first means, said second means including ahelical member extending internally of said first means and terminatingin opposite end portions of said first means, one of said end portionsbeing submerged in said fluid, the other of said end portions extendingfree from said fluid for expulsion of brine shrimp, said helical memberbeing fixedly connected to said first means internally of said firstmeans.
 2. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first means isfluid-pervious for permitting fluid to escape therefrom.
 3. Apparatus asclaimed in claim 2, wherein said first means includes a generallyscreened cylindrical wall.
 4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3, whereinthe screened cylindrical wall includes a first portion submerged in saidfluid and a second portion free from said fluid, said second portionhaving openings of smaller size than said first portion.
 5. Apparatus asclaimed in claim 1, including floatation means which supports said firstmeans for permitting displacement of said first means along the surfaceof said fluid into entrapping relation with said brine shrimp. 6.Apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein said floatation means includesa sluice through which said first means projects into partiallysubmerged relation in said fluid.
 7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6,wherein said floatation means includes a netted member at leastpartially submerged for skimming said fluid proximate the surface of thelatter and communicating with both said sluice and said first means. 8.Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first means is generallycylindrical and said helical member has a lesser lateral extent than theradius of said first means.
 9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1,including means for simultaneously rotating said first and second meansalong a common axis.